froggy wrote:Silly question from a Johnny Foreigner, but why was it made straight-pull & not semi-auto in the first place ?
Take a seat froggy, its a long one. Essentially Pre 1988 they used to let cadets use practically anything including full autos and SLR's (though full auto use on a sterling was discourages, once had someone tell me they were ballocked once for doing that).
Anyway Post 88 act and center fire semis going into section 5 it was thought that being a civilian Organization with mere military links rather than full incorporation it would be illegal to use anything section 5 (not withstanding the previous use of full autos that still continued). Anyway it turned out that the use of center fire semis ban allowed an exemption for all the cadet forces...... They just didn't act on it for years (I believe when the second gulf war started the British army was even taking back LSW's for use that they had given to cadet forces due to how little they had prepared in a crap attempt at trying to not let anyone know there was a build up to invasion and the results showed afterwards). A few years back the straight pulls were replaced/modded to be like semi auto versions of the SA80A1's (minus the bayonet lug, apparently some cadets actually went and made private bayonet purchases and someone got hurt, H&S crap later, you get the picture, what a world we live in
).
Or it could have been for other reasons, but a misunderstanding of the legislation is the story often told to me froggy. Anyway some Cadet GP straight pulls do go up for sale (once again rarer than the Lucky Charm farting Unicorn
). In this instance it sounds like a builder got a hold of remaining stock and built some, so were "new" so to speak. Its debated at this stage whether it could be worth more than a genuine cadet used rifle or that the low round count makes for a better buy.
Once anyone else can add to my ramblings, I hope you enjoyed my tale mon amie Froggy.
Edit: The origins of alot of Cadet GP straight pulls plus the exact reason for them existing is debatable. I'm just relaying a story I've heard perpetuated throughout the Net. I've even heard stories of some Canadian export models being bought by US residents and turned into Semi auto clones (semi auto SA80's do exist in the US but in small numbers from a late 80's batch).
).